An Open Letter

To Whom It May Concern (yes, you, tragically cool, intolerably fashionable, higher-educated young adult): vintage is in. But of course you knew that. Everyone knew that. Which is probably why broken-in jeans cost hundreds of dollars, why throwback looks are ooh-ed and ah-ed over, why people are claiming vinyl sounds better (it can, but often doesn’t), and why it isn’t surprising to find the young and the restless (us) combing our grandparents’ attics and thrift stores looking for that perfect item.

It’s unfortunate that this interest in all-things-retro isn’t really reflected in our reading choices. Glancing at the New York Times Bestseller list you might notice an unsurprising Dan Brown-James Patterson-Nicholas Sparks mash, filled in with other, dare-I-say, formulaic novels found in every airport bookstore, proclaiming their bestseller status in font sizes which challenge that of the titles of the books.

Now I’m not claiming superiority to the hordes that read these books. I admit, I’ve read everything John Grisham’s ever written and have often found myself buying the $9-paperback thriller to get through traveling, beach boredom, etc. And anyone examining at my bookshelf right now would probably hesitate to call me a scholar. Because let’s be honest, a lot of us like the easy read. There’s a constant pull in mystery murders or action-packed spy-games, one that relieves us from the difficulty of the readings we constantly have to plug through to analyze in papers or discuss in class.

But there’s a reason classic literature is placed into that category. I doubt that in 75 years, people will be discussing Patterson’s Alex Cross with the same fervor and admiration that we might talk about Fitzgerald’s Jay Gatsby or Heller’s Yossarian. And while there is no doubt that there are great writers in our time (Junot Díaz, Toni Morrison, to name a couple), it should be almost a duty for the vigilant reader to not forsake the classics to the classroom. Pass on the loud, bold covers next time you’re in the library or bookstore; get something that requires a little more effort.